Daily Business Report-April 10, 2018
Single-family home sales rose 24 percent compared to February. (istockphoto)
Home Sales Spring Forward in March;
Median Home Price Swells to $635,000
Sales of existing homes in San Diego County soared in March after a dreary January and February, according to housing statistics compiled through the Multiple Listing Service by the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors
Single-family home sales rose 24 percent compared to February, and attached properties (condos and townhomes) jumped 21 percent. However, sales for the first quarter of 2018 are still lower than the same quarter last year by nearly 9 percent, pointing to a lack of properties available on the market.
In March, the median price of single-family homes grew by 4 percent to $635,000, while the price of condos and townhomes pulled back 3 percent from their historic high last month, landing at just over $412,000. The year-over-year price increase is 10 percent for single-family homes, and 6 percent for attached properties.
The supply of resale properties on the market edged up slightly, to 1.7 months, although 5 to 6 months is considered a healthy level. Homes were selling in March in an average of only 26 days.
“The housing market in San Diego is showing resiliency despite a slow first quarter,” said SDAR President Steve Fraioli. “The March sales figures show that buyer demand remains strong which is reflected in the steady rise in prices.”
In March, the ZIP codes in San Diego County with the most single-family home sales were:
92028 (Fallbrook) with 61
92056 (Oceanside North) with 52
92130 (Carmel Valley) with 46
92064 (Poway) with 45
92056 (Oceanside East) with 44
The most expensive single-family property sold in San Diego County in March was an oceanfront home in Carlsbad, built in 2007, with more than 6,300 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 8 baths, 2 kitchens, a music studio, glass elevator, glass tile pool and jacuzzi, and a sale price of $11.5 million.
SDAR’s housing statistics are compiled monthly from the Multiple Listing Service
Click here for a detailed look at the numbers.
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SBA Opens New Women’s Business Center
to Increase Opportunities for Entrepreneurs
The U.S. Small Business Administration San Diego District Office has opened a new Women’s Business Center hosted by Southwestern College, aimed at helping women entrepreneurs start and grow small businesses. The new center will provide assistance and resources to entrepreneurs in San Diego and Imperial counties.
The SBA Women’s Business Centers are a national network of more than 100 centers that offer one-on-one counseling, training, networking, workshops, technical assistance and mentoring to women entrepreneurs on numerous business development topics, including business startup, financial management, marketing and procurement.
The new Women’s Business Center is located in the Center for Business Advancement at Southwestern College’s Higher Education Center at 880 National City Blvd., Suite 7100, National City.
For entrepreneurs interested in starting or growing their business, contact Danny Fitzgerald, at the Southwestern College Center for Business Advancement, at (619) 216-6721, dfitzgerald@swccd.edu.
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Predator Series Aircraft Pass 5 Million Flight Hours Mark
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. announced that its Predator-series family of Remotely Piloted Aircraft — encompassing Predator, Predator B, Gray Eagle, and Avenger lines — has achieved a historic industry milestone: five million flight hours. The milestone was achieved on April 4, with 360,311 total missions completed and more than 90 percent of all missions flown in combat.
“Five million flight hours is a testament to the reliability of our RPA systems that are designed, built, and maintained by a dedicated group of skilled and innovative professionals for operations around the world,” said Linden Blue, CEO. “Our 25-year history has produced a list of ‘firsts’ in RPA development and we have leveraged this progress to apply the latest technology and advancement in our new and improved aircraft, such as the MQ-9B SkyGuardian™.”
The identification of the specific aircraft and customer that achieved the milestone is unknown as every second of every day, 69 Predator-class medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft are airborne worldwide. Flight hours have continued to grow at unprecedented rates in recent years, with 500,000 flight hours achieved from 1993 to 2008, one million hours in 2010, two million hours in 2012, three million hours in 2014, and four million hours in 2016.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has more than 8,000 employees with 1135 employees and subcontractors deployed worldwide. On average, GA-ASI produces approximately eight aircraft per month.
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Fish & Richardson Attorney Crystal Culhane
Selected for Program on Legal Diversity
Attorney Crystal Culhane, an associate in Fish & Richardson’s San Dieo office, has been selected for the 2018 Pathfinder Program of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. The program is designed to provide diverse, high-potential, early-career attorneys with practical professional development tools to support leadership, networking and career development.
Culhane focuses on patent prosecution work for life sciences and pharmaceutical clients. She received her J.D., cum laude, from California Western School of Law in 2014 and her Ph.D. in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 2008. At Johns Hopkins, her research focused on the design, synthesis, and evaluation of innovative optical and radioactive small molecule prostate cancer imaging agents. She received her B.S. in chemistry from the University of St. Thomas in 2001.
Richard Bonilla of the firm’s Dallas office was also named to LCLD.
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AMN Healthcare Completes Two Acquisitions
AMN Healthcare Services Inc. announced that it has completed two acquisitions: MedPartners, a leading national mid-revenue cycle firm; and two related brands in health care leadership solutions, Phillips DiPisa and Leaders For Today.
MedPartners, based in Tampa, Fla., provides solutions that help maximize health care facilities’ revenue integrity, improve patient care management and support care-quality reporting requirements. The purchase price was $195 million, with up to an additional $20 million based on future financial performance.
Phillips DiPisa and Leaders For Today, based in the Boston area, offer a range of leadership staffing and permanent placement solutions for the health care industry. The purchase price was $30 million, with potential for an additional $7 million based on future financial performance, and was funded out of cash on hand.
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Carl Vinson Returning Home from Deployment
Sailors from aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson are scheduled to return to Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego on Thursday after a successful three-month deployment. During the deployment, more than 5,000 sailors from Carl Vinson and Carrier Air Wing 2 conducted routine operations in the Indo-Pacific to maintain security and stability in the region.
Carl Vinson visited Guam, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The visit to Vietnam was the first by a U.S. aircraft carrier in more than 40 years resulting in strengthened bilateral ties.
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San Diego State University Professor
Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship
San Diego State University’s Ilya Kaminsky, professor of English and comparative literature, has been awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in support of his poetry. The honor, handed down by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, is given annually in the form of individual grants to a select group of scientists, artists and scholars in the United States and Canada. Kaminsky is one of only 175 recipients chosen from a group of nearly 3,000 applicants.
According to the foundation, fellows are appointed on the basis of “prior achievement and exceptional promise.”
Kaminsky is the author of “Dancing In Odessa,” published in 2004, which won the Whiting Writer’s Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Metcalf Award, the Dorset Prize and the Ruth Lilly Fellowship given annually by Poetry magazine. In 2008, Kaminsky was awarded Lannan Foundation’s Literary Fellowship. Poems from his manuscript, “Deaf Republic,” were awarded Poetry magazine’s Levinson Prize and the Pushcart Prize. His anthology of 20th century poetry in translation, “Ecco Anthology of International Poetry,” was published by HarperCollins Publishers in March 2010.
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Southwest Begins Nonstop Flights
Between San Diego and Newark, N.J.
Southwest Airlines will begin operating more than a dozen new nonstop routes across the country this week, including a nonstop flight between San Diego International Airport and Newark, N.J.
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The Big Exchange Program
Returns to San Diego May 1-18
The San Diego Museum Council announced the return of the Big Exchange, an annual program that offers a special reciprocal membership for a limited time to more than 30 arts and culture destinations in the region. This year’s program will run from May 1 to May 18, ending on International Museum Day.
During the Big Exchange, anyone who is a member at one of the participating San Diego Museum Council institutions can enjoy free admission to the others during the two-week promotion. Each membership is reciprocal according to each membership status. A single-person membership at a participating museum provides one free admission to another, while a family-level membership provides access for up to four guests.
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Miramar College Student Paints Her Way
to a Prestigious Chicago Arts School
Hanna Hunter had never shown her artwork to anyone besides her parents and teachers — at least not until a representative from one of the top art schools in the country, the School of Art Institute Chicago (SAIC), was invited to give a presentation to a San Diego Miramar College arts course and students were asked to present a portfolio of their work.
Now Hunter, 22, is preparing to enroll at the prestigious college in downtown Chicago that has been ranked as the most influential arts school in the country by Columbia University’s Art Critics National Arts Journalism Survey.
Hunter is still pinching herself.
“The representative saw my work and encouraged me to apply to the school,” she said. “It was nerve racking. I had never applied to a college before that, and this is one of the top arts schools in the world. I couldn’t be happier that I was accepted.”
So are her classmates and instructors.
“We are extremely proud that Hanna is transferring from Miramar to SAIC,” said Hunter’s art professor, Jessica McCambly. “It is truly an honor. It has been a pleasure to work with her and I am confident that she will continue to thrive in her new academic environment. She will be an excellent addition to their outstanding program.”
A native of Richland, Wash., who moved to San Diego when she was 13, Hunter had taken a few art classes at Mt. Carmel High School but was an English literature major when she enrolled at Miramar College in the fall of 2015 after tiring of work as a cashier at a local crafts store. “I needed to do something besides sit by a cash register all day,” she said.
Her life changed forever when she enrolled in McCambly’s class. “She has inspired me and helped make me see that you can make art for a purpose and not just for a hobby.”
She also has encouraged Hunter to display her works. One of her more recent pieces, “Ophelia,” which depicts the character from the William Shakespeare drama, Hamlet, disintegrating into the abyss, is on display through May 6 at the San Diego Central Library as part of its “You Are Here” art exhibit celebrating more than two dozen works from higher education arts departments.
“I love painting,” Hunter continued. “My passion is painting. I love that you could take something that is three-dimensional and make it two dimensional with just as much of an impact connected to it.”
The work illustrates not only Hunter’s focus on feminist values, the female experience, and how men typically view the female body, it also underscores her lifelong love of English literature.
“I continue to be impressed with the innovative approach that she takes to both her studio practice and to her academic development as an artist and as a thinker,” said McCambly.
So what does the future hold?
“Art has been a constant for me since high school, and I would love to be a working artist, but what I really want to do is become an art teacher, especially after seeing the impact Professor McCambly has had on me and other students.”
Hunter, who lives in Rancho Bernardo, will drive out to Chicago with her mom this summer. She earns her associate degree in English from Miramar this spring.
“I am so excited,” Hunter said. “I’m also ready. This is going to be amazing.”
